Monday, August 4, 2014

Westchester County police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said three drivers formed a slow-moving shield around the boy on the Bronx River Parkway, then one pulled over and ran to grab the boy and his little vehicle and move them onto the shoulder.

"A couple of cars were behind him, maybe another alongside him a little bit, somewhat protecting him from the possibility of being struck by a car that wouldn't have seen him in time," O'Leary said.

The names of the boy and his rescuers were not made public.

O'Leary said the boy had been out with relatives in a Mount Vernon park about 10 blocks from the parkway. A cousin who was watching him got distracted and the boy took off in his blue-and-gray toy ATV, O'Leary said.

"It kind of just happened in the blink of an eye," he said.

The family spent 20 to 30 minutes looking for him, then went to police at about 7:40 p.m., "just as we started getting 911 calls that there's a child on the Bronx River Parkway operating a toy vehicle," O'Leary said.

"He took the Oak Street ramp going north, comes down the ramp, is in the acceleration lane and then actually in the right lane of the parkway for a brief time," O'Leary said.

Cars routinely go 50 mph in that area.

The boy was checked out at a hospital, found to be OK and reunited with his family.